Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-04-22-Speech-2-355"
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"en.20080422.52.2-355"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the Commission is aware of the demographic issues facing the pension systems. Because the birth rate has been decreasing since the 1970s and because people live longer, an ever-smaller number of people of working age will have to support a ever-larger number of people who are outside working age. As you know, in accordance with the Treaty establishing the European Community, social protection falls within the remit of the Member States. The Commission therefore does not intervene in the Member States’ pension systems, nor does it even have an advisory role in relation to national adjustments. That is why the Member States and the Commission agreed to cooperate in the area of social protection and social inclusion, on the basis of the open method of coordination, which means that the Commission and the Council set up joint goals, the Member States report on these goals and the Commission compiles its findings in the report that is consequently adopted by the Council.
The Member States submitted the first set of national strategic reports in 2002, and the second set in 2005. This second set was summed up by the Commission in the Joint Report on Social Protection and Social Inclusion, adopted by the Council of Europe in 2006. The evaluation shows that although the recent reforms have resulted in more emphatic incentives for people to work longer, there is still the need for further measures to achieve higher employment rates, in particular among women and older workers. Achieving higher employment rates is the best way to ensure that pension systems remain adequate and sustainable. In Greece the risks of old-age poverty are significantly higher than the average: 26% in 2005 for persons over 65 years of age, compared with 19% for persons aged 64. The Greek pension system needs to be reformed to make it more appropriate and more sustainable.
Reforms are needed to encourage older people and women to work more and longer. Considering the low participation of women, we need to implement policies aiming at achieving higher employment rates among women in order to ensure that pension systems are adequate and sustainable in the long term. Since pension systems already wrestle with financial difficulties now, poverty among the elderly will continue to be a problem in the future until such time as those who are not involved in the basic pension system gain the right to claim a pension after a longer period of time.
It is expected that the next set of national strategic reports will be prepared in 2008. The Commission will draw up a summary of the main developments in the Member States. This will provide the basis for the Joint Report on Social Protection and Social Inclusion that will be presented in 2009."@en1
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